Bulls Head Bob Aug 2024. Ringo at 84! Buddy Guy...88!. John Mayall RIP.

Hello Brummies and lovers of 60's bands from Birmingham.

Well it's been Sun and Fun here in the Bob household during the sunny days.  I went out and bought an inflatable garden swimming pool for us all to splash around in, The Bobettes and their offspring enjoyed themselves whilst I got the BBQ going.

RINGO STARR 84th Birthday.    

Happy Birthday Ringo!!  There have been some great drummers, in a technical sense, dishing out their multiple Flim-Flams and Paradiddles in abundance, indeed there were a few of them about in Birmingham who were the masters of technical wizardry, Carl Palmer and Keith Smart to name just two who I have immense respect for.  They were both equally at home with Rock music too.    

Ringo Starr took a lot of stick from the public, they said he was ugly, they said he couldn't play the drums but he wasn't one of those technicians and he made up for that with his brilliant rock solid backbeat that drove a band along like no other.  An inate sense of timing that could put a metronome to shame, allied to his own self taught economic drum fills, gave him his individualism and many more drummers copied those fills rather than indulging in Paradiddle madness because firstly, they were easy to replicate and furthermore recognised that the "less is more" approach had its own place in modern rock music.   

Ringo at 84 years old is still touring with his great All Stars Band, still playing "With a Little Help from my Friends" and still playing in his own inimitable style that gave license to generations of would be drummers to imitate.   Best Ringo quote to Jeff Lynne when Lynne asked him to play to a Click Track... 

"Click Track?  I am the fuckin' click track!".  Sir Richard Starkey.

BUDDY GUY ....  Happy Birthday 88

I have three favourite American blues guitarist, BB King, Freddie King and Buddy Guy.   Two of them are dead, the two Kings that is.   Buddy was born in 1936,  his family struggled to make ends meet.  His first guitar had 2 strings and he struggled to learn through sheer determination and learn he did.    At the age of 21 he moved to Chicago and won a blues guitar competition under the influence of Muddy Waters and the prize was a recording contract.   He then signed for Chess records but the  label didn't like his on stage raucous sound and wouldn't record him playing like that because it was " just a noise".   

Buddy was relegated to playing as a session man on everyone elses records for years.

It was many years later, 1967, that Eric Clapton insisted he be

included into a blues guitar extravaganza at the Albert Hall which brought him to the fore and into the public eye of the British who were hungry to learn more.   It was acknowledged by BB King that if it weren't for the Brits they would still be playing in shanty town bars.   However it wasnt till the rebirth of Blues music in 1988 that he finally got the recognition he deserved and his light has shone bright since then.

As for his "on stage noise".   His early 1957 stage shows included a lot of style and guitar trickery that had impressed one young, pre fame, Jimi Hendrix who was totally impressed and copied everything he did.  When Hendrix came to the UK it wasn't too long before he was considered a guitar God and he sure was, no doubt, but he and those other guitar Gods had all prayed at the feet of Buddy Guy whose wild style had been so suppressed by the music biz for so many years.

The Rock and Blues world is based on that feedback, guitar behind the head antics wrongly attributed to Hendrix....he was a copy of the man considered too extreme for the record buying public way back when.

Happy Birthday Buddy!!

JOHN MAYALL. RIP

There can be no other British person who championed the world of blues music more than John Mayall some might say Alexis Corner was but his was a toned down affair as opposed to the man who built his bands around class British guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor.  I saw many of his shows at The Carlton, later renamed as Mothers in Erdington, Birmingham with all of the above guitarists.  No large mixing desks, no effects, just pure music played loud.  An experience like no other at that time.   

The best of all those concerts was with Clapton in 1964 just prior to the Beano LP.   I had never heard music quite like it, the power of Eric's solos biting and screaming through the Mayall/Clapton composition "Have you Heard" was nothing short of a wonderment.  Me at 15, mouth wide open, totally engrossed at the musician standing in front of me wringing out that solo that seemed to go on forever.  Mayall's vocal was so right as a counter to that guitar violence, sung in high register floating over the sound of his Hammond organ.    I had never heard of Buddy Guy or Freddie King at that time but when I did I could see where Eric got his style from.  He said that John Mayall was largely responsible for his fame after coaching and encouraging Eric to listen to his large record collection of blues artists that he had never heard of before.

Eric was a hard act to follow and although Peter Green was a brilliant soulful player it just wasn't as good.   He later redeemed himself with his incredible Fleetwood Mac compositions.

Mick Taylor, although good didn't seem to fit in.  On the night I saw him with Mayall they were supported by Birmingham band Bakerloo with guitarist Clem Clempson,  Mayall was stood watching him play.   I overheard Mayalls drummer Keef Hartley say to Taylor "Watch out for your job Mick".  John Mayall was a band leader in the true sense and would hire and fire when he saw someone else who could do a better job.  On that night it was Keefs last gig with the band and he was awarded a gold watch on stage, a bit like retiring from a factory job.  

Mayall moved to the USA where he continued to be successful as a result of the British Invasion. He was awarded the MBE for his work promoting blues music and rightly so.  He toured right up until his death at the age of 90.  A true legend, an innovator and solid professional.

Thanks for everything professor, a man who championed and changed the face of music.

FINALLY

It's back into the garden for me to enjoy the precious time I have left to bask in the sun.

Take care everybody.  Love the ones who are close to you and ignore those who would do you harm for their own sake.

Bob

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